August 10, 2022
Kenya: Election - Institutional Safeguards Are Still a Work in Progress
Kenya has held its seventh national election since the reintroduction of multiparty competition in the early 1990s. Elections in the country are never dull affairs. They are always… Read more »
Africa: What's Wrong With the Fourth Industrial Revolution
The "Fourth Industrial Revolution" is a term coined in 2016 by German economist Klaus Schwab. It's used to describe the technology revolution that the world is going through. But… Read more »
August 08, 2022
Angola: Angola's Eduardo Dos Santos - An Unlikely Leader Known for His 'Judicious' Use of Violence
José Eduardo dos Santos, the former Angolan president who died on 8 July 2022 five years after relinquishing power, was an unlikely leader. Read more »
August 09, 2022
Nigeria: Atiku Abubakar - Nigeria's Perennial Presidential Candidate Is Back On the Stump
Atiku Abubakar is the candidate for Nigeria's main opposition party, the People's Democratic Party, in the 2023 presidential election. Read more »
August 08, 2022
Kenya: Prosecution or Compensation? What Kenyan Choices Tell Us About International Justice
In December 2007, the Electoral Commission of Kenya announced that Mwai Kibaki had won a second five-year term as president. It was a surprising outcome, given his opponent, Raila… Read more »
South Africa: Lilian Ngoyi - an Heroic South African Woman Whose Story Hasn't Been Fully Told
Despite her key role in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, details about Lilian Ngoyi's life remain sparse. The short paragraphs on her legacy repeat a few well-worn… Read more »
August 07, 2022
Kenya: Muslims Are Divided, With Little Political Clout
Kenyan Muslims played a part in the push to repeal repressive political laws in the country in the early 1990s. But Muslims, who account for 11% of the population, have yet to… Read more »
August 05, 2022
South Africa: Vacuum of Ideas At ANC Policy Conference Bodes Ill for South Africa's Governing Party
South Africa is in the throes of an unprecedented, multifaceted socio-economic crisis requiring substantive, impactful policy interventions. Yet, having attended the governing… Read more »
Africa: The U.S. Is Revisiting Its Trade Relations With Africa - Key Issues On the Table
Last year, the US's Biden administration announced plans to increase two-way trade and investment between the US and Africa. The starting point was a revamp of the Trump-era… Read more »
August 04, 2022
Kenya: Election 2022 - The Candidates, Issues and Role of Money in a Fierce Contest
Kenyans are gearing up for an important general election in August 9, 2022, which brings to an end President Uhuru Kenyatta's turbulent two terms terms. Read more »
Nigeria: Patriarchy Persists in Nigeria - and Men Aren't the Only Ones Who Keep It That Way
Chrisland Schools on Victoria Island in Lagos was recently in the news for the wrong reasons. Nigerian newspapers - and some further afield - carried the story of an incident in… Read more »
Africa: Racism in South Africa - Why the ANC Has Failed to Dismantle Patterns of White Privilege
One of the sources of social discontent in post-apartheid South Africa is the legacy of white racism. This toxic legacy is evident in racialised poverty and inequality. Read more »
South Africa: Why 'Political Will' Isn't the Magic Bullet That Can Fix Country's Energy Crisis
South Africans gave a warm welcome to President Cyril Ramaphosa's recent announcement about a "set of actions" to respond to the energy crisis in the country. Read more »
July 31, 2022
South Africa: South Africa Is Trapped Again - What Kind of Leaders Can Set the Country Free?
Former South African president Thabo Mbeki recently painted a gloomy picture of the country and its prospects. He said the governing African National Congress (ANC), led by… Read more »
Kenya: Kenya's Election Red Flags in Five Essential Reads
Kenya is no stranger to highly contested elections. Several of the country's past polls have seen high levels of conflict. The violence that broke out after the 2007 elections… Read more »
August 01, 2022
Morocco: Unpacking the Power Plays Over Western Sahara
The western Mediterranean region has recently witnessed an intensifying set of diplomatic and economic stand-offs between neighbours Morocco, Algeria, and Spain. Read more »
July 31, 2022
East Africa: Change of Guard in Kenya - The 5 Reasons Neighbours Watch Every Step
Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta - whose final term in office ends after the 9 August polls - has been a key figure in east Africa. Over the last nine years, he has tried to create… Read more »
July 26, 2022
South Africa: South Africa Has Been Warned That It Faces an 'Arab Spring' - So What Are the Chances?
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki recently launched a sharp critique of the governing African National Congress (ANC) for failure to address what it has labelled the… Read more »
July 24, 2022
Kenya: Young Voters Have a Dilemma - They Dislike Ethnic Politics but Feel Trapped
In elections and beyond, young Kenyans are an important political cohort. People between the ages of 18 and 35 make up about 30% of the population and nearly 40% of registered… Read more »
July 22, 2022
Africa: Five Essential Reads On Russia-Africa Relations
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, will visit four African nations - Ethiopia, Egypt, Uganda and Congo-Brazzaville - from Sunday 24 July. The visit comes ahead of the second… Read more »
Angola: Angola's Eduardo Dos Santos - a Divisive Figure in Life - and in Death
There is unlikely to be consensus on what José Eduardo dos Santos, Angola's former longtime president who died earlier this month in Barcelona, Spain, will represent in the… Read more »
July 21, 2022
Angola: Dos Santos Failed to Provide a Moral Example and Stop the Plunder of the State
Silence is what comes to define the life and the death of the former Angolan president José Eduardo dos Santos (1942-2022), who died recently at a hospital in Barcelona,… Read more »
Nigeria: Votes for Cash - the Significance of Vote Buying in Nigeria's Democracy
The 2022 primary and gubernatorial elections in Nigeria brought to the fore the reality of vote buying. Read more »
July 20, 2022
South Africa: Religion and State Need to Be in Balance to Protect Democracy in South Africa
The relationship between religion and the law is often complicated. It is sometimes even conflicted. At the heart of the matter lies the tension between freedom of belief and… Read more »
Ethiopia: What's Driving the Violence in Oromia?
In November 2020 an outbreak of violence in Ethiopia's Tigray region captured worldwide attention. The conflict was between Tigrayan forces and the forces of the Ethiopian… Read more »